The 1890 sandstone residence with attached carriage house is a rare example of the use of Chateauesque style architecture in Denver. Thomas B. Croke, who gained fame as a merchant and experimental plant breeder and later served as a state senator, commissioned the house and lived there until he sold the property to Thomas M. Patterson in 1892. Patterson served as a territorial delegate to Congress in 1874, a U.S. Congressman in 1877-79, U.S. Senator from 1901 to 1907, and edited and published the Rocky Mountain News until 1913. Patterson’s daughter, Margaret, married Richard C. Campbell, and the couple lived with the Senator until 1916. Campbell became a prominent local financial leader and worked as business manager for his father-in-law at the Rocky Mountain News.

The Croke Patterson Mansion is one of the country's most elegant and frightening haunted houses. Built in 1890, it was modeled after a French chateau and sits on Denver's prestigious Capitol Hill.

According to legend, the original owner, Thomas B. Croke, stepped into the house only once, and was so shaken by the experience, he left and never returned.

Over the next century, the house served many purposes--a dance studio, radio station, boarding house and eventually, an office building. That's when strange things really began to happen. People began seeing floating bats. Office equipment turned on automatically.

The madness reached its apex when two Doberman Pinschers who were guarding the premises were found dead on the sidewalk. Something in the house had frightened them into jumping out of a third-story window. What evil forces could have frightened the poor canines? A seance revealed that the body of a young girl was interred within the walls of the mansion.

Those who inhabit Denver's spookiest mansion say they're somewhat accustomed to the creaks in the floorboards, the thumpings from the walls and the creepy chills that rise from the cellar's twisting and turning paths. But every now and then you can see it on their faces... they're still scared. There's good reason:

Legend recounts the tales of suicidal guard dogs, lonely mothers, swinging parties that crash the house one moment and fall silent the next. Secret chambers supposedly entombed the body of a girl, while unexplanable drafts emanate from the mansion's depths.

Vicious Doberman pinschers, a grieving mother and a drifting apparition are among the ghosts that haunt Capitol Hill's Croke-Patterson-Campell Mansion today. Completed in 1891, the towering sandstone castle has driven many of its occupants from the building's four floors and 15,000 square feet for mysterious reasons.

Most frighteningly of all, Thomas Patterson, the former owner of the Denver Rocky Mountain News, haunts the courtyard between the castle and the carriage house, bemoaning the undiscovered secrets and candals that lurk in Denver's seamy underbelly.

Public access?: This is a private residence that is currently up for sale.Visting hours: NoneWebsite about the location and/or story: [Web Link]

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